Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

The neighbor behind our house has nice flower gardens, full of color. We were envious. Because at our house, we plat flowers like that and the deer come and eat them. So we asked her how she did it. She said she didn't -- she just planted more than they could eat! The parable we heard today is kind of like that. The man in the parable sows enough seed to get a harvest -- because he knows that not all his seed is going to produce. It's a simple story, really. But as often with parables, sometimes the point is still missed. Truth is, the human heart, by nature, by birth, because of sin, is a terribly hostile place for the Word of God. And yet... some of that seed does grow and produce a harvest.

In the verses we heard from Romans today, Paul doesn't just sound like a sinner, but an addict. He knows what he should do. He knows that what he is doing is wrong, BUT. But. Such a little word that is oh, so big. BUT... Paul's story is your story. I don't know what Paul's addiction was. But you do. And I know my own. What you want so much, that it displaces God in your heart and life. And so it's an idel. And it can be exhausting. So, Come to me, Jesus says, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So when you are baptized, Jesus' story becomes your story -- you become a son of God, receive His Spirit, and die and rise with Him.

You heard it. You heard Jesus Himself say it. Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter, anything or anyone, really, in this world is not worth of Jesus. And then Jesus added this too: Whoever does not take his cross and follow me -- to death! Whoever does not love me more than their own life -- is not worthy of me. So how can I let Joshua come up here and say these things today? When he is not worthy. So I'm going to call an audible today and not confirm Joshua... not because he is worthy. I'm going to confirm him because of grace. Because what is happening here today is what happens here every week: a gracious God giving gifts to unworthy sinners.

You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Those are significant and important words. God's Word to His people, constituting them as a kingdom, a nation, and what kind of kingdom or nation they would be. And a holy nation. A nation not like the other nations, but set apart for God. That's who you are, too. A nation not with earthly territory or land, but with a heavenly home. The readings that we hear on this first Sunday of the long, green Pentecost season often set the tone for the entire season. And these readings for today, coupled with what is happening in our world, I think do just that.

Today, the Church seems a bit out of step. Having a Sunday to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity. This while our country is still trying to get back on its feet and come out of this time of pandemic. While our country is in the throes of discord, turmoil, rioting, and protest, and the divisions among us seem to widen and deepen with each passing day. Or maybe it's exactly what we need. The world and the culture do not set the agenda for the Church. So, Holy Trinity Sunday. Because our God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- and His love, life, and forgiveness, are what we need right now.

It is interesting that on this day when the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit and begin to go OUT into all the world with the Gospel, this is the day when many of you came BACK to the church for the first time in quite some time! And actually, that word back... if you wanted to connect a word with the work of the Holy Spirit, that might just be it. For it didn't take long after the Apostles went out for some to claim that the Holy Spirit wasn't about back at all, but about forward, about new. Except... on that first Christian Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did nothing of the sort.

We're in this together. That's the message in our country and even around the world these days. And the derivations of it, which say that we're stronger together. And that's certainly good, and true, and desirable. As far as it goes. But how far does it go? As soon as the time of crisis or hardship is over, the togetherness seems to vanish as quickly as it came. So when Jesus today talks about being one... well, it sounds familiar. Except... Jesus isn't here issuing a rallying cry to His disciples. He's talking about a oneness achieved on the cross -- all sin united as one on Him.

I was reading the latest Lutheran Witness the other day... there are some articles in it that address the pandemic, and some mention is made of the plagues and pandemics that have afflicted the world in the past, including the early church. How, often, Christians didn't run and hide in fear, but loved and served their neighbors -- even those who weren't Christian. Now, I'm sure not all Christians did that, and I'm sure that there are some Christians doing that today. But, in general, that doesn't seem to be the attitude of most today. Why is there such a difference? What did they have that we don't have?

The Easter season and our celebration of our Lord's resurrection is like a seesaw. Seven weeks of joy divided into two parts with a fulcrum in the middle. The first three weeks we hear of Jesus' appearances to His disciples after He rose from the dead. The final three weeks, which we are now entering, we hear Him teaching His disciples what He is about to do and what it means. And the middle, the fulcrum, is Good Shepherd Sunday, for Jesus is our Good Shepherd through it all.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Yet while it sounds like those early Christians were devoted to four things, in reality, they were devoted to only one: Jesus. For all those things are from Him and lead to Him. Because they knew Jesus not was, but is, their Good Shepherd. The one who came to care for them, to feed them, to fight for them, to protect them, and to die for them. And now risen from the dead, to continue to do this for them -- and for us -- forever.

It had been a Passover unlike any other. The festival-like atmosphere was missing. Crucifixions during the Feast. And this Jesus, who we had hoped was the one to redeem Israel, well... turns out He couldn't even save Himself. And now it was time to go back home. And then a strange week got even stranger when a stranger came up to them and started walking with them. But this man didn't seem to know what had happened. Now, of course, this man hadn't missed anything. So how had they missed it? Well, like this: they missed the greater because they were looking for the smaller.

The disciples were hunkering down for fear of the Jews. It had all happened so fast. They didn't know what to think. Much the same thing is happening today. People are hunkered down in fear. Of a virus. These things go on because sin goes on. But how we respond to them now is most certainly changed. And that's the very gift He gives His disciples that night. The forgiveness of their sins and the promise of life. Yes, there are still trials and struggles -- viruses and troubles -- that we must go through. Peter says that too. But they are sent, he says, not to destroy your faith, but to strengthen it like gold.

About a month ago, we were told that were we to do nothing, were we to go on living our lives as normal, there would be some 2.2 million deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. Yet because of closures and social distancing, the number was reduced to approximately 60 thousand. But there are a few more numbers I want to share with you... 3,000... 620,000... 1.7 million... 8 million... 20 million... 50 million... 56 million... 62 million. That's the number of people who dies on 9/11, in the US Civil War, in the Crusades, in the 30 Years war, in WWI, of the Black Plague, in WWII, and finally, the biggest number: the number of abortions in just the United States since 1973.

Imagine what the day will be like when all these virus restrictions are lifted. When we are able to go back to our lives as usual. Church as usual. Sports. Games. Parks. Libraries. Work. People outside. Social gatherings. Parties. Celebrations. The joy... it'll be like... Palm Sunday! The first one. But by the end of the week, Rome was still Rome, and still in control. Their Messiah was dead. Nothing had changed. But after that first Palm Sunday and the week that ended in bitter disappointment, the Church had a message to proclaim. It simply was not true that nothing had changed -- for everything had changed!

Hope. It's what the prophet Ezekiel and the people of his day needed. It's what the people of Rome needed. it's what a mourning Mary and Martha needed. And it's what we need. And not just now, in this time of pandemic. Even before this. For there was death before this, and there will be after this. Hope is always needed. And the readings we heard today show us where our hope is. Or maybe better to say, WHO our hope is. Paul says, don't set your minds on the things of the flesh. There's more than this. There's greater than this. And it's yours in Christ Jesus. In Him you have life and hope.

God's ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. What we want we do not always get, and sometimes we get what we do not want. How true that is especially these days. But just as we do not know the day when our Lord is coming again in glory and this world as we know it will end, so too we do not know when this will end. But He does. So until then, we wait and we trust. For our Father in heaven is always doing what is best for us. How long will that be? Something happens every generation to make us think: soon! But none of us knows when the end will come. Or how. But if all these things make us flee to Christ and His promises, that is good. So be wise, be careful, be safe, and be smart, but do not fear.

What a difference a week can make! Last Sunday our children were still going to school. Last Sunday sports were still being played. Last Sunday there was plenty of food on grocery store shelves. And maybe there is a lot we'd like to ask God today, about what is happening -- how long it will last, how bad it will get, and why it is happening. Even if it doesn't seem like it and in things we can't understand. God doesn't cut and run when the going gets tough. For with Christ, in Christ, and with your eyes and faith focused on Christ, you have what the world needs. He is with you in life and in death. So be wise, be careful, be safe, and be smart, but do not fear.

What if you got a sit-down with Jesus? Well Nicodemus got such a sit-down. Just Him and Jesus, one-on-one. And the point is clear: Jesus isn't going to tell Nicodemus what he wants to know, but what he needs to know. And the first step to do that is to teach Nicodemus that he can't do it -- something that no Pharisee would believe on his own. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus didn't get all his questions answered that night. In fact, he may have left with more than he came with! He didn't get what he wanted to know, but he did get what he needed to know.

Sin is not an end in itself for satan, it is a means to an end -- to your death. For that's what he wants. We heard of it in the first reading today, from Genesis, the account of the first sin. And this is why -- and how -- satan tempts you today. He can't make or force you to do anything. What he does is dangle things before you, things you think you want, things he promises will make your life better, and tempts you to jump -- away from God, away from His life, away from His gifts. Jump to your death. And we take the bait. So Jesus came. Into the wilderness into which we jumped. But there would be no jumping out of God's Word and promises for Jesus.

This is a side of you I haven't seen before. We say that sometimes. Well today, in His Transfiguration, Jesus shows Peter, James, and John a side of Him they haven't seen before. Or have they? Peter, James, and John got to see the glory of the Son of God that day. But it really was a side of Jesus that He had been showing them all along by the glorious things His glory did. But the point is clear: this is not how Jesus wants to be seen or known. Not yet. So on Wednesday we enter the season of Lent. The season of Jesus' glory and its culmination on the cross.